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Twinned: A Series of Ficlets Hallo thar and welcome to Twinned, a series of ficlets revolving around pairs of Pokemon that are related in some way, with the mini-challenge of guessing which Pokemon before the revelation at the end of each part. Without further ado: Part One: Life is Wonderful
The two children meet - both timid and unsure, but eventually the childish curiosity draws them together, and within minutes they are playing together. Their combined imagination, young and fresh and raw, keeps them going for hours until they've done everything they can think of that things come to an arupt stop.
"What now?" the boy asks. In reply, the little girl shrugs.
"I have a special friend that we can play with," she offers, and the other child shows interest.
"Who? Who is it?"
"C'mon. Come and meet my special friend." She sets off determinedly, beckoning for him to follow her. He totters along behind her, his curiosity ignited. She leads him through a gate to a side yard, and then across the yard to a garden shed.
"Is your special friend in here?"
"Yes, but be quiet, I don't want to scare him."
They sneak over the door on tip-toes, barely any quieter than they would be had they just walked. She opens the door gently and slinks inside. He's a little clumsier but manages to stay quiet.
"It's me; I'm here! Where are you?" she stage-whispers into the semi-darkness. There's a shuffling deep inside the shed, and a movement in their vision.
"What is it?"
"Shh. Hey, it's just me. I brought another friend. It's okay; you can come out now, mister," she says. The shape moves forwards, and it becomes clear that it's a lot bigger than he first thought. He can see a bulk of muscle, a thin arm, a bony shoulder and a thick tail.
"I-is it a Pokemon?" he asks. He's never gotten close to one before. He doesn't know whether to be scared or exhilerated.
"Yes, he's very big and a little bit scary, but he was hurt and I helped him. Now he's my special friend. He talks sometimes. He told me he wanted help, but when he talks, he doesn't use his mouth, he uses his mind," she explains to her newest friend. The special friend watches, interested.
"A Pokemon that talks with his mind... is that a s-Psy-sychy Pokemon?" He struggles with the word.
"Ah-huh. Psychic. He taught me that word."
"What's his name?"
The girl stops. "He... he doesn't have one. He didn't tell me one. He said to call him mister, so that's what I do."
"Ok. Hello, mister. Are you going to play with us?" he asks. The Pokemon makes no noise, but they both recieve his words.
"Ok, mister. Will you come outside to play?"
"He won't. He said it's dangerous for him outside," the girl shoots in. The Pokemon's eyes widen a little, but he does nothing.
"Why is it dangerous, mister?" the boy asks. He answers them. They both gasp, and the girl gets tears in her eyes.
"Oh, that's terrible, mister! Why didn't you tell me this before?" The girl runs forwards and grabs the Pokemon's grey leg, hugging it ferociously. He watched with interest but says nothing. He extends an arm, hovers a hand over the girl's head as though he wants to comfort her but isn't sure of how. The arm drops. His head drops.
The Pokemon speaks. The girl looks up, the boy looks on, and then they nod.
"I'll come back later, okay, mister? I'll bring some of mommy's cooking, too," the girl promises. The Pokemon nods, and a tiny smile appears on his feline face. The boy waves as he goes.
"It was nice to meet you, mister. I hope things get safe for you soon!" The boy waves. The Pokemon hesitantly waves back. Then he is alone again.
He leans back against the wall, bracing himself with his tail. His torso hurts terribly from the brunt of the attack he recieved not too long ago. He lays one tri-fingered hand against his side, pressing, feeling the pain as a form of relief. He knows that he's safe here, in the care of this young, so young, unjudging, tiny little girl. They came looking for him a day or two ago. He heard them. They didn't suspect that he was here.
He knows he's safe. He smiles, rests his head on his plated chest and sleeps.
----------
It's been two weeks, and he's feeling stronger. Strong enough to leave, he thinks. He tells the little girl this, and she cries, but she's happy at the same time.
"Isn't it still dangerous?" she asks. He tells her that he'll be fine - he's strong enough to take on the danger now, but he'll try to stay out of it. This satisfies her. She opens the door for him, and hands him a package, and tells him to open it later, when he's safe again. He waits until she leaves, and then casts his inner eye around, checking the coast. It's empty. He steps outside.
The air is ridiculously refreshing after his weeks of confinement. The sky is pale, not quite sunny, but even then he finds himself enjoying it, for he has not seen it in a while. He can't help but view it with a sense of admiration. He usually avoids the daytime, prefering to live by the night.
He lets loose his power; it's raw and out-of-practice, but he know it, and he gives it time to restore itself, and then he kicks off from the ground. He is flying. He is free.
----------
His body feels younger somehow. Maybe it's because he's been so close to the young humans. He reaches the place where he used to live - before he moved them all out. He sits in the place he once sat, and looks how the place has change; one time, he loved it. The lake is still here, underground, where he left it. No one is left. He feels sorrow for that, but simultaneously, joy for the fact that they had found their own lives to lead. He has found the wrong one, perhaps. Maybe he should choose a new life. This one is dangerous.
While he sits, he thinks. He can remember the children that came here. Their elders were not ones to trust, but the children... First they were to stop him, and then to help him, but always it was the right thing to do. Yes... they always did the right thing. Always.
He remembers something else... a memory of a time long past. His first memory... "Life is wonderful"... but... why? And who? He remembers a little girl... not the one from the shed, but another, and a name... Am... ber...?
There is a noise, and he is instantly alert, jerking out of his thoughts. He casts his inner eye out to investigate, and is met with a small, familiar shape.
I didn't know you had returned, he says.
I also did not expect you, and yet we're both here. How fun! the second replies. Her voice is higher, more playful. She is taking the whole thing as a joke.
Why are you here? he demands.
Same goes to you. Last I heard, you were in terrible danger. I, however, know how to take care of myself. She floats closer, teasing. He clenches a fist.
I can take care of myself, he counters. I was merely incapacitated.
Of course, my dear. Of course you were. She comforts him as she moves forwards. He tentatively reaches out towards her, and then they are embracing.
This is a common splice - the separation of two complete sentences by a comma. You need to change this to an exclamation mark (!), a semi-colon (;), or a dash (-).
Kon~ said:
It's okay(,) you can come out now, mister," she says
This last part is a new sentence altogether, and seemingly doesn't refer to how the phrase itself is spoken. It's a statement, really; therefore, the "h" should be capitalized.
Kon~ said:
"Oh, that's terrible, mister! Why didn't you tell me this before?" the girl runs forwards and grabs the Pokemon's grey leg, hugging it ferociously.
Oh no! A semi-colon causing a fragment :s And that "and" is awkward, too. You should get rid of the "and" altogether and turned "he's" into the first word of the sentence; then, you need to change that semi-colon into a dash or a plain, old colon. When using the semi-colon, always be sure that it separates two sentences that relate somehow, and doesn't create one sentence vs. a fragment.
Overall, though, I think that whole mini-paragraph needs rewriting. For example:
"The sky is pale, not quite sunny, but even then he finds himself enjoying it, for he has not seen it in a while. He couldn't help but view it with a sense of admiration."
^ That seems more pleasant to me to read.
Kon~ said:
He reaches the place where he used to live - before he moved them all out. He sits in the place he used to sit, and looks at the place he used to love
I'm not 100% certain, but I think when an elipses separates two complete sentences, it acts like a period and the first word of the next sentence requires capitalization. I know if elipses are used to separate two incomplete sentences, such as "Did she really... do that?", you don't capitalize, but I think when separating sentences, you do.
Kon~ said:
I also did not expect you. And yet we're both here. How fun!,
Dialogue or not, this can be written more grammatically correct and acquire the same effect:
I also did not expect you, and yet, we're both here. How fun!"
Also, you used two punctuation marks after "fun". That's only acceptable in elipses and when writing bewildered cries (?! or !?). You should really get rid of that period, since italicizing shows it's different from the normal font anyway.
And yay! Mewtwo and Mew :] I don't see many fanfics centred around them; maybe I haven't read enough? In any case, I like how you write and I hope you'll continue with this. The style is enjoyable, but do fix up on some punctuation errors that I pointed out and think about them for the next entry.
Ehh... I did have a different part two that was not romance, but it turned out badly and is currently in revision, so I'll skip to what was planned as part three, which, unfortunately, is another romance... ah well. Part three (originally part four) is not romance, and part four (originally part two) will not be, so...
Part Two: Time Cannot Keep Us Apart
She flies through the forest with ease. The trees and plants seem to obey her, moving out of her path as she passes, but then again, it may just be her natural agility: she doesn't know; she doesn't care. Familiar landmarks pass by her field of vision at high speed. She wonders if he could keep up with her, and now that she's thought about him, he's the only thing she can think of. So much so, in fact, that it's not long before she loses her focus and ends up tangled in some willow branches. For a second or two, she mindlessly struggles, scolding herself for ending up like this.
"Do you... need help?" a hesitant voice eventually asks. She spins around until she faces a young male Furret who is perched on a thicker part of the branch she's stuck in. He recognises her, of course, and she wishes she could say the same about him, but in all honesty, she could mistake him for any of the Furret who live here.
"Yes, please," she replies meekly. The Furret bounds forwards and chews at a few of the thin twigs until she is loose enough to shake herself free.
"How did you end up tangled like that?" He bites into the end of one of the twigs he chewed through, sucking on the sap that dripped from within. She makes a face; she finds sap to be overly-sweet, and sickly as a result, preferring to keep to juicy berries and seeds that kept her hunger at bay for hours.
"Um... I got a little distracted. Not to worry, though; I'll keep my mind on where I'm going." She twirls around with an unnecessary flourish as she thinks out her next line of trajectory by the angle. The Furret cocks his head, watching with interest. "Well, thanks for the help! I might see you around sometime!"
And with that, she is gone, as fast as the wind on the trees.
----------
He is in a similar situation: thinking of her and ignoring the rest of the world. That's how he ends up tripping on a root and stumbling into the undergrowth, quite uncharacteristically for him. He stops for a minute to get his breath back as he realises his foot is stuck under the root. He's twisted awkwardly and he panics to the degree that he can't think of a way to free himself. It takes him a couple of seconds to twist back into a position where he can get out, and in his opinion, this is a couple of seconds too long.
He sits back on his haunches and sighs. He knows he hasn't been as strong, or as fast, since what happened to them. He doesn't even like to think about that, since he can remember what happened to her. The memory flashes across his vision: her being held in that strange energy; him appearing, taunting them, having tricked them; the bright light, the knowledge that this was as far as they could go...
And they had survived. He shudders involuntarily. He can't bear to be apart from her for much longer. He wants to be with her right this second - to hold her in his arms as he had done on that day. He takes off back into the shrubbery, hoping their paths will cross. He may have been hurt in body, but not in spirit. His determination drives him forward.
----------
In the end, they meet by the shrine, completely by accident. She had stopped there to rest, and he had headed there as it was the center of the forest. For a second they do nothing, until he reaches forwards and touches the side of her face. She leans into the gesture, taking his hand in hers.
"How I've missed you... my dear Grovyle," she almost sings. She stares into his eyes, taking in his shapely face and long green crest. He tilts his head and smiles, drawing her into a hug.
"Celebi... it's been too long," he replies, stroking her flushed pink cheek. If anything, she blushes more. They finally release one another and are again in silence, as they simply take in the sight of the other.
"Grovyle, my dear, shall we?" Celebi offers, nodding towards the tunnel of trees that has formed naturally towards the entrance of the shrine. He studies it for a second, taking in every trunk of every tree and each rock that juts from the ground until he knows the exact path he is going to take. Eventually, he takes her hand, and they are off, gliding through the forest they know and love: forever as one.
Hopefully longer than the last part, and also not a romance, for once, I present...
Part Three: Distance across Darkness
It's the middle of the night, and they are painfully alone: two tiny Pokemon cut off from the rest of the world by a veil of darkness. One is sat with tears in his wide, dark eyes. The other frowns at the shadows, daring them to take her on. They need someone to look after them - after all, they are only young - but there is no one, so they look after each other. The frowning one is the eldest, and she thinks that means she holds responsibility over the younger one. The shadows pulse. She doesn't know if that actually happened or if she is getting tired. She returns to the younger one's side and hugs him, gently, letting him know that he is safe. She is used to darkness; she knows how to deal with it.
The younger one, blinks, just sending the first tears over the edge of his eyelids and trailing down his face. He is terrified; he hates the dark. No, he hates what might be in the dark. He ducks into the older one's shoulder, hiding his face, screwing his eyes up. He shivers involuntarily, pressing harder into the older one's shoulder, his snuffling getting quieter and quieter until he is eventually asleep. At this point, the older one gently lays him down and gets up, once again pacing the borders of their safe area. She has an affinity with this area - after all, at one time, this was her home. In a way, she supposes, it still is, but things have changed since then. This forest has become deeper and darker. The trees have spread their canopies wider blocked out more of the light. At this point, she wishes she could see the sky. She wants to look up at the stars and the moon and see the depths of space. She looks back at the younger one before making her decision.
It doesn't take her long to scale the trunk of a tree, and then she is bursting through the canopy. The moon, which she has not seen in so long, seems bigger than she remembers, and brighter too. For a second, she is breathless. After spending so long in the darkness... and to see such light... the image burns itself into her retinas, leaving her blinking, tears streaming down her face. She can barely remember a moon like this. She closes her eyes and tries to think back. Lights dance behind her eyelids. A memory slowly begins to surface.
She is two months old, and her mother calls her to the basket. Mother's friend, a human, is talking to them and petting Mother's head. Mother looks sad, but she doesn't know why. She tries to ask, but Mother turns away. A slow stream of humans come and go throughout the day. Sometimes they come and look at the pack. Sometimes they take one. The first time, she is shocked and tries to fight the hand that is grasping her sister. She tries to weaken it, to loosen its grip, like Mother taught them to do. It does nothing but make the human angry. Eventually, more and more of her family are taken away. Only she and two brothers are left. Then she is taken. She cries out to Mother, to the two brothers, but no one can do anything to help her. She is taken.
She whimpers involuntarily. A cloud has passed over the moon, and she shivers as the shadow flows over her. She never knew the moon could feel... warm. Maybe it doesn't. Maybe it is just the familiarity of it that makes her feel warm with contentment. She does not know. She lets the memory continue.
It is perhaps a few days later. Her thoughts are fuzzy. All she can think of is the family she has lost, and the person that took her is increasingly angry at this. He insists that she follows him wherever, and she begrudgingly does so, as she has no other option in mind. They enter a place she feels a sudden closeness to: a shady forest with trees taller than she had ever seen before. As they get deeper, they enter a tunnel of trees that ends with a large wooden object. The person briefly explains to her that this is a dedication to the one who is supposed to live here. She stares up at it in wonder and barely notices when he continues walking. He doesn't notice she has not followed him at all. She watches in awe as the doors on the object slowly slide open. The right door swings all the way, and a bright light blinds her momentarily. As she blinks away the resulting tears, the light fades a little, and a shape flits out of the door, lazily floating towards her. She suddenly feels something take her hand and drag her upwards, and she cries out in shock. She feels her feet leave the ground, and then she is flying through darkness, the neverending darkness...
There is a gasp below her, and then crying; the younger one has awoken and is alone and scared. She must go to him. She makes her way down the trunk of the tree, trying not to look back at the moon as she knows she will once again get trapped in its spell. Her feet barely touch the grass before he has grabbed onto her neck, weeping noisily into her shoulder, his whole body shaking with the effort. She leads him back to the shrine. They sit beneath it and she rubs circles on his back until he falls back into a snuffly slumber. Then she looks back up at the shrine. She can still remember entering it, and then finally being deposited, so many years later. She often wonders if the being that appeared, all that time ago, still lives here. She wonders if it will ever return. Most of all, she wonders if she will ever go home: if she will ever see Mother again.
She shakes her head and tries not to think like that; she has to care for the younger one now. She watches him rub one bright red cheek with his stubby yellow arm, and she twitches her spiky ear. Eventually, she falls asleep. It is uneasy and light. She half-dreams about a shining green Pokemon, about the younger one's colour reminding her of Mother, of the never-ending darkness and the powerful pull of the full moon.
Once again, they are just two Pichu, alone in a forest, subject to the terror of the night.
